Ulysse Nardin Executive Tourbillon Free Wheel

The flagship mechanics gets some serious métiers d’art treatment in a form of osmium, aventurine, straw marquetry, and carbon dials.

Ulysse Nardin Executive Tourbillon Free Wheel Osmium

With four new exotic materials dominating the dial, the Free Wheel concept makes a solid addition to the overall wow-factor. Let’s start with the version standing slightly apart from the others, thanks to the choice of case material – the Osmium. The world’s heaviest metal certainly appears to be the eye-candy in the hands of skillful artisans, and its blue sparkles really shine against the white gold case. The aventurine version in a pink gold case also does it’s deep-spacey thing perfectly, while the carbonium-gold version provides the dial and the barrel with dozens of uneven and never repeating stripes. Finally, the straw marquetry piece made of real black-dyed straw – cut and prepared by hand – grants the watch with gorgeous complex texture, very likely never before seen by the majority of watch lovers.

Ulysse Nardin Executive Tourbillon Free Wheel Carbonium Gold

As the name suggests, the manually wound movement of the Ulysse Nardin Executive Tourbillon Free Wheel looks as though the wheels are spinning all by themselves and literally float in the air next to the bridges. The bezel is nearly absent, leaving all this mechanical ballet surrounded only by the 44-mm case and the box-domed sapphire crystal. The trademark anchor flying tourbillon with constant escapement has silicon parts, while a 7-day power reserve has an independent indicator at 4 o’clock. All four versions are limited to 18 pieces each. The price for the Executive Tourbillon Free Wheel Osmium in white gold is 102’000 EUR, the other three references in pink gold will go for 99’000 EUR.